People have worshiped the Sun and Gods who represent the Sun for all of recorded history. Hence, many beliefs and legends have been formed around this worship. Sun gods are generally (though not always) male, and usually the brother, father, husband and/or enemy of the lunar deity (usually female). They were often gods of truth, honesty, virtue, prophecy, intellect and fertility.

Chinese Mythology
Unlike in many other culture, Chinese people do not personify nor worship the Sun or the Moon. The most likely reason is the heavy influence of Taoism and I Ching in Chinese culture because the moon represents Yin and the sun represent Yang which are the basis of everything in nature.

In Chinese mythology (cosmology), there were nine suns in the sky in the beginning. The world was so hot that nothing grew. A hero called Hou Yi[?] (后毅) shot down eight of them with bow and arrows. The world became better ever since. In another myth, solar eclipse was caused by the dog of heaven biting off a piece of the sun. There was a tradition in China to hit pots and pans during a solar eclipse to drive away the "dog".

All Wikipedia text
is available under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!